Leverage:Thicker Than Water
by Gilbert H. Karr
Summary: Eliot thought he had walked away from his past, and with Moreau out of business, he had come a long way toward making amends. Now, his past is colliding with his future, and innocent people are getting caught in the crossfire. Will Eliot be able to stop those seeking to destroy everything he has built before it is too late? Co written with Soquilii. We don't own or profit. Pls R/R.
1. Chapter 1

Leverage: Thicker Than Water

Eliot reclined lazily on the deck of the large yacht. His hair lay flat underneath him and his eyes were closed under the shades he wore to block the intensity of the sunlight. For all intents and purposes, he appeared to be asleep.

Nate turned away from the wheel for a moment, and glanced at the younger man. He was glad his hitter was finally able to relax. The whole team needed some down time, but Eliot wasn't the kind to take it. All those times he had bitched to Nate about having time off, Nate later discovered, had been mostly for the team's benefit. Eliot was usually found during that time doing something for various and sundry friends of his—most of them military—some…others. Nate wasn't really sure who they were or how they knew Eliot, but he hadn't asked. He might not get an answer if he did ask.

Nate dropped anchor in the middle of the harbor. He settled down to read, thinking he might do some fishing later if Eliot wanted to. Moments later, he got caught up in watching the dolphins circling a shrimp boat further out to sea, and he didn't realize how much time had passed. He jumped when he heard a beeping sound and a muffled vibration. Eliot opened his eyes and sat up, faster than anyone had a right to do so. Withdrawing the phone that Nate had taken to calling his "other" phone from his pocket, he touched a button and held it up to his ear.

He listened for a long time, without saying a word, and then finally said, "Patch him through. Thanks Vance."

There was another period of silence, and then he said, "Ben. My man. Howya doin'?"

The smile on Eliot's face froze there, and then slowly faded as he listened. "Whoa. Slow down. Say that again?" After a moment, he said, "Where are you?"

Nate couldn't hear the voice on the other end of the telephone, but he did hear Eliot's, and he heard the timbre of it change. There was an urgency in his voice that Nate seldom heard there. "Stay Put. I'll come to you."

When he hung up the phone, Nate didn't give him a chance to say anything, before he spoke. "Bad news."

"I don't know. Maybe. I need to get back."

Nate turned his head sideways and studied Eliot for a few moments. Then, he started steering the boat. After a moment, he said, "Care to tell me what the phone call was about?"

Eliot didn't answer at first. Nate shrugged and turned back to the boat. He was surprised when a voice sounded behind him a moment later.

"That was my nephew, Ben. He didn't want to tell me what was wrong over the phone, but if he's calling me, it's bad."

"What? A nephew can't call his uncle just to talk?"

"Not like this. If he's calling on this phone, there's something wrong."

"I heard you thank Vance."

"Yep. No service out here. But Ben called on this phone, following specific instructions he has known since he was little, and that's how Vance knew to patch him through."

"So, what now?"

"I'll need to pick Ben up."

"I'll gather the team and get them ready."

"No." Nate shot him a look and he said, "I have to do this…you all don't. It's my issue, I'll take care of it."

"Meet me back at the office", he asked Eliot, and the younger man nodded once.

(0o0)

Nate and Eliot had gone their separate ways in the parking lot at the marina. Nate immediately drove to the office let himself in, and sat down at the large computer screen in the back room, and began pulling up a browser and typing in the search box. A moment later, Harrison walked out of his office, unaware that anyone else was there. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Nate seated at the table.

"Nate. What are you doing here? We're supposed to be taking some time off."

"Well, something happened, and Eliot had to come back from fishing early. He says it is his issue and he'll take care of it, but he agreed to meet me here. I want to have some idea of what I think is going on, and to be ready if he changes his mind."

"Do we need to call the team together?"

"I don't think so. I just want to do some research right now."

"Research on what exactly?"

"It's probably nothing, and Eliot might not appreciate it if I tell you."

Shaking his head and muttering to himself, Hardison went back into the personnel office for the brew pub and closed the door.

(0o0)

Half an hour later, Nate heard a key in the back door, and Eliot stalked inside. A young man with roughly the same build as Eliot, and with the same startlingly blue eyes, though without the hardness of manhood, followed him. Acknowledging with a glance that Nate was there, Eliot seated himself at the table and motioned Ben to sit down beside him. He swiveled the stool to face the young man.

"Tell me what happened." Ben glanced at Nate, and Eliot laid a hand on the young man's shoulder. "He's a friend. It's all right."

"Mom's in the hospital. Police say her brakes failed. She wrecked the charger."

"How's she doing?"

"I don't know. When I call the hospital where the police told me they took her, they tell me there isn't anyone there with her name. Papaw went to see about her, and he hasn't been home either. This morning, he sent me this text."

Ben held his phone out to Eliot and Eliot stared at it for a long time. Without a word, he passed the phone to Nate. Nate tilted his head sideways, thinking. He caught Eliot's gaze and held it, and then he jerked his head sideways, toward the closed door, indicating that he wanted to talk to Eliot privately. Almost imperceptibly, Eliot nodded, and focused on Ben.

"You hungry?"

Ben nodded.

"Okay. I want you to go on out to the dining room and eat something, while I make some arrangements. We'll leave as soon as we can."

"Come on. I'll show you where to go." Nate led Ben out to the dining room and signaled the waitress to put it on the team's tab. Nate left him there and joined Eliot again in the back room.

"What do you think, Nate? Eliot asked.

"Before I can answer that, I think I need a little more information."

"What kind of information?"

"Information such as what your relationship with Ben and his mother is. More information about the whole situation. That kind of information." He paused. "I'm assuming he is part of your family. The resemblance is unmistakeable."

"He's my nephew. My sister, Angela, borrowed my Charger while her truck is having its transmission replaced. Drove it out last weekend." He opened his mouth and closed it again.

"What aren't you saying, Eliot?"

"I service that car myself. Weekly. I replaced the brakes less than two months ago."

"So what do you think is really going on?"

"I don't know, but I intend to find out."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Nate stared at the door for a long time after Eliot left. If he was honest with himself, he had hoped to convince Eliot to take them with him. He wasn't sure what he had expected when they met; it wasn't like Eliot ever changed his mind about any decision he made. Nate had felt the need to try, though.

Sighing heavily, he turned his attention to the task of cooking dinner in Eliot's absence. It wasn't fancy, but it would feed them. When he was finished, he called everyone to the table, and Parker came bouncing in next to Hardison. The two sat down together in their usual places, and a few minutes later, Sophie joined them. At different times throughout the meal, they each found themselves staring at Eliot's empty chair, thinking about the team member who wasn't with them. Dinner was a silent affair, as they all had their own thoughts on the situation, and kept them to themselves.

The ringing of the telephone made almost all of them jump. Nate shook his head, pressed a button on his phone, and held it to his ear. Half a second later, he put the call on speaker phone, and motioned them all in close to listen. A voice they didn't recognize was speaking hurriedly, and almost in a whisper.

"You need to get to Eliot. He could use some backup."

"Who is this?"

"No time for that, Ford. Doesn't matter, anyway."

"Where is he?"

"Tell Hardison to turn on his giant tv screen." The line went dead.

With a feeling of dread like a stone sinking into his stomach, Hardison reached over and turned on the television. Aerial footage of a wrecked silver truck appeared on the screen. It was lying upside down at the foot of the embankment. Helicopters flew around overhead, and they all watched in horror as rescue vehicles screeched to a stop, sirens blaring. Firefighters sprayed it with some sort of thick, white foam, designed to help it not catch on fire. The EMTs then surrounded the truck to see if anyone was inside. As they picked their way down the embankment, they carried a backboard with them.

Parker stood, staring at the screen, transfixed. "Eliot," she said quietly, fearing for his safety. Watching her,, Nate reached over and turned the television off.

"Let's go get him. Hardison? Appropriate precautions."

"Already on it." Finally, he looked up and flashed his white teeth in a smile.

"I've rented a car. If we're careful, we should be able to get out of town without being noticed."

"No chances."

(0o0)

Nate slammed on his brakes when they reached the scene of the accident, but there wasn't much left. Broken bits of glass lay scattered along the roadway, and there was a long row of skid marks. There was no sign of human life.

"I've checked all of the hospitals in the area. Unless he was sent somewhere else, there hasn't been a patient matching his description come in."

"What about John Doe's? Injuries might alter a person's description."

Hardison shook his head.

"Check the funeral homes and the morgue."

Hardison shook his head again.

"We have to know."

Reluctantly, he started typing. A moment later, he looked up with a big smile.

"He's not in any of them, either."

"Well, at least there's that."

(0o0)

Parker lay perfectly still on the floor, trying to decide what to do. She had never liked stillness, and Archie had helped her channel her energy into something productive, something dangerous, or just this side of it. But it was Eliot who had taught her how to be still, and the value of doing so. Now she didn't know what to do, but as she lay there with her eyes closed, a vision came into her head.

She was seated in a soft leather chair in the brew pub's back room. The rest of the team was halfway around the world, on a job, in Japan. They had left her behind with a torn ACL, and though she had assured them when they left that she'd be fine, she wasn't convinced she wouldn't die of boredom before they returned. It was the boredom that had prompted the call to Eliot in the first place.

Now, she heard his voice in her head, with the same advice he had given her then. "Identify your limitations. Turn them to advantages."

"How do I do that?" She had asked him at the time.

"Adapt," he had said.

Then, it hit her. She couldn't do anything but wait here—wait for more information, wait until Nate had a plan, wait, wait, wait. Though she hoped to be back in time to help the team rescue Eliot, if they found him, which was a big "if" if he didn't want to be found, she knew she could be more useful elsewhere at the moment.

She suddenly knew what she had to do. She rose and moved over to Nate and spoke softly.

"I'm going to see what I can find out about Eliot's truck. I'll be able to tell if the accident was caused by foul play or if it was accidental."

"No, Parker. We can't afford to be seen. Not yet."

"Really? You think I can't get on and off a car lot without getting caught?"

"All right. Bad choice of words. Just be careful. We need you."

Parker nodded and jogged out the door.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

After an hour of hiding and surveying the impound lot, Parker felt she had a pretty good lay of the land. She had noted the location of all of the security cameras and their blind spots. She knew that there was only one human guard on duty, but also two German Shepherds. The guard would be easy to avoid, the dogs slightly harder. Still, she had a plan for that. She was ready. The lot was surrounded by an electric fence, topped with barbed wire and a gate that was heavily padlocked.

She threw an old coke can she found beside her on the ground at the fence. It hit and bounced off. Taking a deep breath, she sprinted across the street to the impound lot, being sure to stay hidden as much as possible in what cover was provided. It took her a matter of seconds to pick the lock, and open the gate. Not wanting to be too obvious to passersby, she closed the gate behind her.

She avoided the guard easily, and found Eliot's truck without too much of a problem either. She slid underneath it and started looking at some of the major systems. After a moment, she spotted the problem, so she crawled out, marveling at how easy her work here had been so far. She was halfway to the fence when that all changed. She darted out from behind the last row of cars, to find two snarling German Shepherds waiting for her. Tearing off in the other direction, Parker knew the dogs would give chase. She only hoped she could make it to the fence before the dogs caught up with her.

A voice sounded from somewhere further away, near the building, if she had to guess. "What are you girls barking at?" The voice said something else, too, but it was muffled by the sound of the barking dogs, and she couldn't make out what it was. She kept running.

Parker finally saw her chance to get away from the dogs. She jumped into the back of a pickup truck with the tailgate down, ran across the bed of the truck, slid across the roof, and landed on the hood, even with the top of the fence. With the dogs right behind her, Parker didn't stop to think too much about what she was doing. She just jumped. Her intention was to clear the fence, but the slide across the roof of the truck had slowed her momentum, and she didn't quite make it.

Her clothing snagged on the barbs from the barbed wire fence, and she heard clothing rip as she felt the jump stall. She had hoped the clothing would tear free completely, and she could avoid hitting the ground as hard as she would otherwise. Her pants must have been stronger than she thought, however. She felt her jump stall in mid air for a split second, then gravity slammed her down toward the ground. She started to slide down the fence, but when she brushed it with her foot on the way down, the force of the electricity threw her clear. She hit the ground hard several feet away and had the wind knocked out of her. As she lay there, trying to breathe, a shadowy figure approached her.

As he drew closer, she could see that a man stood before her—one she felt she should recognize, but she couldn't place from where. He scooped her up effortlessly. She tried to fight him off, but found that she felt weak, and the muscles in her arms and legs were refusing to work.

"Put me down!" she demanded, surprised that it came out little louder than a whisper. The person carrying her grunted, but otherwise ignored her, and didn't put her down. Her head was swimming from the electrical shock, and as she tried to force herself to focus, darkness closed in on her vision. Just before it claimed her, her last thought was, 'I wonder where he's taking me.'

(0o0)

Sometime later she became conscious of a warmth enveloping her body, and a single cold wind blowing across one leg, followed by an intense burning sensation. She opened her eyes, then immediately closed them, rubbed them, and opened them again. Eliot was seated at the foot of her bed, deftly bandaging her injured leg.

"Eliot?" she asked in surprise.

"How're you feeling, Sweetheart?"

"I-I have a headache."

"Yeah, that's what happens when you tangle with an electric fence." He was silent for a moment, doing something she couldn't see, then he said, "Why don't you get dressed, while I get you something for that headache."

With that, he turned his back to her and started rummaging through a box that sat in the corner.

It was then that Parker realized she was completely naked, only covered by a bed sheet and a light blanket. In a voice that shook as she tried to remain calm, she said, "Eliot?"

"Yes?"

"Why am I naked?"

"Your pants were torn from the barbed wire, and burned in places from your contact with the electric fence. And knowing Hardison, all of your clothes had trackers in them. So, I took them off, along with your earbud and cell phone."

While they were talking, Parker had stepped into the somewhat baggy sweatshirt and sweatpants he had left on the side of her bed. He turned back around at that moment, and pulled a chair up beside her bed.

"What did you think you were doing out there, anyway?"

"Trying to find your truck."

"How did you know my truck would be there?"

"That's where they take cars when there's an accident."

"Start at the beginning."

"Okay. Nate got a call from someone, telling him to turn on the screens—that you needed help and the team needed to get to you. The tv showed an accident scene, your pickup down the embankment, and the place swarming with ambulances and firetrucks. Of course, he was worried. We all were."

"So you tracked the scene of the accident and came to see if I was all right. That's just_great."

Parker didn't know what to say to that, so she didn't say anything. Clearly, he didn't want the team involved. After a moment, Eliot pulled her out of her thoughts with his next question.

"Where is the team staying?"

Parker didn't answer.

"Parker?" he growled.

"In one of Nate's safe houses nearby. I don't know the address, but I can draw you a map."

"Quickly, then." He handed her a small pad of paper and a pen. She quickly drew a map and handed it back to him. He nodded to someone and tossed the pad off behind her, but before she could turn around, the person and the pad were gone.

Momentarily forgetting that she was injured, she tried to run to the window to see the person who had left, but ended up howling in pain as her leg gave out from under her at the first step, and sinking back down onto the cot from which she had just risen.

"I could've given Nate any information you wanted him to have."

"No. You're in no shape to go anywhere, at the moment. You need to rest. That leg needs time to heal."

He checked her leg to make sure her impromptu run hadn't messed up any of his handiwork, and then he helped her lie down on the cot, and pulled the blanket up over her. Tweaking her hair, he asked, "Are you in pain?"

She nodded. "Bad enough for a shot?"

She nodded again. Gently turning her over onto the side that wasn't injured, he exposed her hip and gave her some Demerol. He helped her turn back over, and sat down beside her.

"Sing," she said, in a sleepy voice. So, Eliot sang to her until she fell asleep.

(0o0)

Following the map the girl had given them, he found the safe house without a problem. Now, he had to decide how to enter. It wasn't like he could just walk up to the front door and knock on it. One didn't come straight at a team the caliber of Nathan Ford's team. As he sat hidden, contemplating his next move, an opportunity presented itself. The hacker stood at the side of the house, fiddling with something, his head buried inside a large white box. Walking up behind the hacker without being heard, he drew the pistol he kept in his shoulder holster, and jammed it in the younger man's back.

"Don't turn around."

"What do you want?" The hacker's voice was laced with fear, and a smile of satisfaction crossed his assailant's lips.

"I need to talk to your boss, and you're going to get me in there, and out, safely. If you stay calm, no one gets hurt, and I let you go as soon as I am out and away. If you don't, well, let's just say you'll wish you had."

With that, he led his captive to the front door of the house. Hardison opened the door, and walked in to find Nate and Sophie seated at the table, planning their next course of action.

"Did you get the wireless fixed?" Nate asked, without looking up.

"Not yet," he said, a warning in his voice.

"Well, then, why are you in here instead of out there working on it?" The gun in his back nudged him further into the room, and the man stepped in behind him.

"That would be my fault."

"Quinn. What are you doing here?"

"No. No names. You never know who might be listening. I have a message for you, from your missing man."

"All right. Shoot."

"Please don't say shoot when there's a gun in my back," Hardison said, quietly.

Quinn's laugh was mirthless. "He told me to tell you that you all are colossally stupid for following him. He left the way he did because he wanted to keep you out of all of this. The situation is a dangerous one, and he doesn't want you to be caught in the middle."

"Caught in the middle of what exactly."

"That I can't tell you."

"So what, we're just expected to leave and wait until he reappears?"

"No. Leaving is too dangerous. His wishes are for you to stay here until all of this is done. He'll make contact when he can."

"How's the boy?"

"You would be smart to heed the warning." Quinn stared them down for another moment and then he was gone.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Parker sat on her cot scowling at the wall and silently planning her escape. Almost as if he could read her thoughts, Eliot said, "Don't even think about running away. You won't get very far on that leg."

"Sparky, you have to know that Nate's not going to let you do this by yourself. He's going to get the team involved. He has to."

Eliot nodded. He disagreed with the idea that Nate 'had' to get the team involved, but he couldn't deny that he likely would try. "In this case, at this time, getting the team involved is signing your death warrants—all of them. That's why I told him to stay out of it."

"Have you ever thought that you might be selling us a bit short?"

"We're out of our league."

"You said that with Damian Moreau, too."

"And he almost killed us."

"But he didn't."

"Do you think Moreau was the worst person in my past?"

"You seemed to say that he was, that day in the park, or before that, when Nate first told us he was going after him. You said he was THE BIG BAD."

"That depends on how you look at it. He's the biggest, baddest, bad guy you all have probably heard of, but there are people, some of them at the highest levels of government, whom you've never heard of—some of them are so high up, you haven't even heard of the organization within the government that they work for, much less heard of them. Not to mention that there are secret organizations within the world of crime, too, Parker. And it is a distinct possibility that some of those people are the ones who are after me at the moment. The safest thing I can do for you is to leave, without giving too many details, because the more you all know, the bigger a target you become."

"Really? Do you think Nate can't fill in the gaps? Or have Hardison do it, at any rate?"

He knew she was right, and it was then that he knew what he had to do. The first thing on that list was having a talk with the team.

He looked at Parker. "How's the leg?"

"Better."

"Good. We'll see. Go get in my truck. We have some business to take care of, and it isn't safe to leave either you or Ben here without me."

(0o0)

"Hardison, I need you to find out where Eliot's sister lives. That's where he would have been heading, and it is where all of this started. Let me know when you find something."

Without another word, Nate went into the bedroom on the second floor that was his, and locked the door behind him, brooding. He needed to think.

Thirty minutes later, Nate was jarred out of his reverie by a knock on the door. He opened it, half expecting to see Hardison standing there with the information he asked for, and prepared to make anyone else wish they hadn't disturbed him. He was slightly surprised to see Sophie standing on the threshold.

"Something I can do for you, Soph?"

"I wanted to check on you."

"I'm fine. Just thinking."

"No. You're brooding, and it isn't healthy." He hardly seemed to hear her, lost in his own thoughts as he was. She hated it when he got like this—shutting the world out. Granted, that was when he was at his most brilliant, but still—where did it leave her?

"Fine. Go. Figure out a devilish plan to bring down the bad guys, like you always do, so you can come back to me when it's over."

"Yes, Sophie, thank you," he said, proving he hadn't heard a word she said.

She turned to leave, and met Hardison standing in front of the door to the makeshift office, planning to knock, as she passed. "Maybe he'll talk to you," she said, under her breath, but loud enough for Hardison to hear.

The mastermind had his back to the door, so he didn't see Hardison when he entered.

"Nate?"

"Tell me you found Eliot's sister."

"She was airlifted in to Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City. That's about an hour and a half or two hours from the family land."

"Tickets, Hardison. We need tickets."

"So we're going? Even though Eliot doesn't want us to and Quinn told us not to?"

"Was that ever really a question? One of my family is in trouble. I won't simply sit here while they are hurt or killed or whatever else because of some misguided sense that they don't want us to get involved. I can't."

"One of your family is in trouble here, too, or had you forgotten? You may be able to leave Parker behind to whatever her fate happens to be, and go chasing after Eliot, but I can't. I won't."

Nate stopped dead in his tracks and looked at Hardison as though the man had slapped him.

"Wow. Do you really think I'd leave Parker behind?"

Hardison stared at his shoes, suddenly uncomfortable and a little embarrassed to admit that this was exactly what he thought. "No. Not really."

"Well, I don't think you have to worry about Parker. She's in good hands."

"How do you know?"

"Ask yourself two questions—how did Quinn find his way here, and why hasn't Parker come back yet?"

He paused, watching the younger man work out the answers for himself. Finally, he said, "Tickets, Hardison. Tickets."

So, Hardison found them tickets. He didn't completely agree with or understand what Nate was doing, but he had faith in the man himself. He kept going back to the conversation he had with Nate, playing it over in his mind. How did Quinn know where to find them? Could he have been watching them? Was Nate warning him to be sure they were off the grid? Or was he suggesting that Parker had told Quinn where to find the team?

He tried to think of scenarios in which Parker might reasonably have done that, but to do that, he had to determine why and how Parker had interacted with Quinn. Wait, was that the reason she hadn't come back? Was Quinn the one who warned them about Eliot's accident? Could he have been watching the yard where Eliot's truck was taken, seen Parker, and abducted her for some reason? Why? And since when did Nate trust Quinn?

Then, another thought occured to him as he was printing out their tickets. What if Quinn was working with Eliot, and Eliot was holding Parker for some reason? That didn't make sense. Why wouldn't he have made contact himself, instead of sending Quinn? And Hardison knew Eliot well enough to know that he didn't trust Quinn further than his own ability to keep the other man in check by means of his reputation and his skills. Would he really hire the man for something as important as family matters? Nate seemed to think so. And Hardison trusted Nate, and Eliot when it came to that. One thing he knew about Parker—that he had learned in the time he had known her—is that she could take care of herself. Somehow, that didn't make him feel better, though.

(0o0)

As the printer printed the last of the tickets, Nate came back into the living room area of the house, where the rest of the team was gathered, to talk to them. Before he could do so, the front door opened, and in walked Parker, leading Eliot's nephew by the hand. The team stared at them as if they were aliens from a science fiction movie who had suddenly become real right there in the team's living room. A half second later, Eliot stepped in behind her and closed and locked the door, but not before Nate saw someone else standing on the front step.

Nate tilted his head sideways, and looked from Ben to Parker to Eliot and then back again. Finally, he said, "What are you doing here, Eliot? I thought you'd already be out in Oklahoma with your family."

"No you didn't, or you wouldn't be here. You thought I was in an accident and stopped here to figure out the next steps and make a plan." He turned all the way around, with the force of his exasperation. "I tried to keep you out of this because, frankly, I was afraid something like the accident would happen."

"Speaking of that—what did happen?"

"Can I talk to you?"

"Sure. Right here. Whatever you want to say, you can say in front of everyone."

Eliot sighed "People from my past—bad people—who have decided that because I'm not in the game anymore I am either weak or I've lost my touch, are coming around to test that theory. You don't leave the kind of life I led without paying a price for doing so. Most of them will disappear when word gets out that I haven't lost a step, but until that time comes, you all are in a lot of danger. If one of you were to be targeted, or taken and held hostage, or worse, I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

"Really? I thought it was just another of the Eliot-Lone Wolf-I-need-to-do-this-myself-things."

"No. Actually, I want your help to break my sister and my dad out of the hospital. My ways are loud and messy, and I think that job requires a bit more subtlety."

"Don't try to feed me a line, Eliot. You can be as subtle as I can, when you want to be. We both know that."

"Do you want to help, or don't you?"

"We do. You and I will continue this conversation later."

"I'll look forward to it. Right now, I think it's best if I travel separately. I'll ask you to take Ben with you. He'll be safer with you all, I think. With your permission, I'll have Mr. Quinn accompany you, too, for a little extra security. We'll meet at Mercy when I take care of my little problem. Until then, I'd appreciate it if you will assess the situation and make a plan."

"We'll do that."

"Then I'll owe you one, Nate. Thank you." He held out his hand, and Nate shook it. Then, he was gone.

(0o0)

The Leverage team plus a couple of additions debarked an airplane a few hours later at the airport in Oklahoma city. A gloved hand turned a dial and the six of them came into sharper focus. An unknown person watched until they were out of site at the other end of the airport concourse.


	5. Chapter 5

Nate walked into Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, wearing his doctor's coat. Eliot had wanted to go as Doctor Abernathy, but Nate said no, reasoning that anyone in his past who might be after him, would know what he looked like, and therefore, wouldn't be fooled. None of the team was sure what Angela's injuries were, and therefore, they didn't know what floor she might be on, or where she was being held. Nate would guess she was in the trauma unit, but there was an easy way to find out and start building his cover at the same time. Striding up to the desk, he spoke quickly.

"Excuse me. Nurse _?"

"Dixon. Nurse Dixon."

"I was called in to consult on a case of a woman injured in a car accident. She's in the trauma unit."

"Yes. Angela Meeks. Pretty extensive injuries, I understand. You'll be consulting with Doctor Landon. Third floor."

"Thank you, Nurse Dixon."

He rode the elevator up to the third floor. There was no one at the desk as he approached, so he walked down the hallway looking for Angela's room. As luck would have it, he found it pretty quickly, and since the door was cracked, he walked inside. The lady lying on the bed was either asleep or unconscious, at the moment, but an older man, sitting next to her bed, speared Nate with the same steady gaze he had seen before, from the same startling blue eyes. Seeing that the man was about to speak, he put a finger to his lips, and spoke before the man had a chance.

"I'm Doctor Foster. I've been called in to consult on Mrs. Meeks case. Are you a relative?"

"I'm her father." As Nate got close enough to him, he whispered, "If you do what I tell you to do, I'll get you both out of here."

The older man, who had just confirmed he was Eliot's father as well, in Nate's mind, nodded.

Nate had his phone out, scanning her chart, when there was a perfunctory knock on the door, and then it opened and another doctor walked in. Nate was between his phone and the door, and he slipped the phone in his pocket before anyone else had a chance to see it. Still holding the chart in his hand, Nate turned around and stuck out the other hand.

"My name is Doctor Foster, and you are?"

"Dr. Patterson."

"HI, Dr. Patterson. Are you Mrs. Meek's doctor?"

He nodded.

"I'm here to consult with Dr. Landon about her case. I was just familiarizing myself with her chart."

Dr. Landon was called away unexpectedly to handle an emergency. Your consult will be with me." Nate nodded.

(0o0)

As Doctor Patterson started explaining what was wrong with Eliot's sister, Nate edged closer, in an effort to allow Eliot to hear and make note. As a medic, he would know how to treat her, or know how to find someone who could. They were interrupted by a knock on the door. Two police officers came into the room, and immediately moved up beside Nate, effectively blocking him in.

"State police. We're placing you under arrest for impersonating a medical professional, gaining medical information about a patient under false pretense. You have the right to remain silent. If you give up that right, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you at no charge. Do you understand these rights?"

Nate stepped back, raised his arms, and said, "Whoa, wait a minute here. You must have the wrong person. My name is Dr. Philip Foster and I work at County General Hospital, in the trauma unit."

Dr. Patterson spoke up, "I know Doctor Foster, and he's Asian. You can't be him."

"Oh, you wanted the other Doctor Foster. Fo. I believe if you will check, you will find that there are two Dr. Foster's on staff at that hospital. We both thought you were requesting my help, as I am a trauma surgeon, and I'm told the lady went through some pretty severe trauma in the accident. If you don't want my help, I'll go back to work and send Fo over."

"We're going to have to take you down to the station to clear things up. We received an anonymous tip that you were impersonating a doctor, and that you would probably say otherwise. Comparing the biometrics should clear things up. Come with us, please."

Nate's heart sank as he heard the term biometrics. That meant fingerprints, and those don't lie. He was going back to jail. He turned and started walking back outside, one of them on either side of him.

(0o0)

Thinking quickly, Eliot knew what he had to do. He had to speak a language these boys would understand. Reaching into the open window of a nearby car he borrowed a hat and then slipped his air marshal badge, which he kept on him at all times, around his neck. He took a quick glimpse of himself in the car's side mirror, and decided, if they didn't look too closely, he could pull it off. Maybe.

He strutted out to meet them as if he owned the place. "I'll take him from here, boys."

"We received a warrant for his arrest."

"Commander Ness, marshal service. I had a judge issue that warrant yesterday. I've been chasing him across five states, which makes his crimes Federal in nature. I've already cleared it with your Chief," he lied, fervently hoping Hardison was following the conversation, and doing just what he had said, as they spoke.

"We'll have to check the computer."

"Well, go ahead then, but make it fast, okay? I want to get back and get him locked up safe and sound."

The two police officers moved back to their car, and Eliot saw them typing something into their computer. _Come on, Hardison,_ he thought. He needn't have worried. Hardison was a step ahead of them, and the police computer screen stared blankly back at them, with a spinning blue circle, until Hardison hit the last keystrokes, and released it back to them. A moment later, Eliot knew what he had told them had been confirmed by their computer, as they waved and drove off.

After they were gone, Nate looked at Eliot. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me. Being with me puts you in a lot more danger. Come on, we need to meet up with the others and make some plans. Eliot threw the hat back into the car window where he found it, watching as it landed neatly on the seat. Hopefully, they wouldn't remember it was a few inches off of where it had sat before.

(0o0)

Hardison whirled in surprise as the back door of the van popped open and Nate climbed in, followed by first words out of Eliot's mouth were directed to Hardison.

"Make sure the police chief doesn't find any trace of the warrant he sent his men out here for. Preferably before they get back to their precinct without him."

Hardison touched some buttons on his computer, and then said, "Done."

Eliot nodded. They sat in silence for a moment, then Nate asked, "Why was I arrested, Hardison?"

He shook his head. "Your identity was iron clad. CIA level encryption. They shouldn't have been able to see through it, unless someone there recognized you."

"The policeman said they were sent to serve a warrant. That means someone who knows us had to inform them that I was a fraud. I don't like this."

"Someone's taking a run at us. When I find out who it is…they won't like it much either."

"This is someone who has the resources to follow our movements, and who, for his or her own reasons, alerted the police. Does that sound like anyone we know?"

They all spoke at the same time, but said three different names.

"Latimer," Nate said.

"Quinn," Hardison said.

"Sterling," said Eliot.

"Whoever it is, I will find them, and I'll make them regret the day they decided to come after us. Especially here. Now." Eliot spoke with a ferocity and a finality that was almost disturbing.

Finally, Nate said, "We still have to rescue your sister and your father."

"Yeah, and every minute I am here puts you all in more danger. Nate, I would appreciate it if you come up with a plan. I'll touch base again as soon as I can. If I haven't made contact in six hours, implement the plan without me, but make sure you have a hitter before you do so. With luck, I'll have some friends at your disposal."

Nate turned his head sideways and looked at Eliot appraisingly, after the way he said that word "Friends". Eliot's bark of a laugh was mirthless and his eyes were serious.

Nate met those eyes and nodded once, to show Eliot he understood. Eliot didn't wait around to see it. The van door slammed and he was gone.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Here's the next chapter. It is rather** **short, and only tells part of the story because there are two separate things going on here. In order not to give away the rest of the story, I'll leave it at that. Thank you for taking the time to read and review. I don't own Leverage, and I make no profit.**

 **Chapter 6:**

Nate had retreated into himself, as he liked to do when he was thinking. His mind turned over every possible avenue, as always, but he kept coming back to the same question. _Who would know about Eliot's sister, and also that the team was involved?_ It wasn't like they shouted it from the rooftops. This had to be someone who knew the team. It was time to call in backup.

(0o0)

Hardison sat at his computer, fiddling with something, and suddenly, a picture, rather grainy, popped up on a computer screen. The inside of a hospital room slowly brightened into view. An old man sat hunched in a chair next to the bed, tiredness radiating from him. A young-ish woman with flaming red hair lay in the hospital bed, eyes closed. Hardison, feeling mildly guilty for watching them, started making notes about when the room was empty except for the two of them. For two days, they took it in turns to sit and watch. Hardison's supply of orange soda steadily dwindled, and they made plans, rejected them, and made more. Finally, Nate felt they had a plan that just might work. It wasn't a pretty plan, and he wasn't happy with some of the moving parts, but it was the best he could do, under the circumstances.

Quinn still lurked, protecting them at Eliot's direction, but he didn't really get too close to the team. It wasn't that there was a question about his ability or willingness to protect the team, it was just that—well, dammit, the man wasn't Eliot. As soon as he had the thought, Nate realized how unfair that thought was, but he couldn't keep from thinking it either.

(0o0)

"I say we create a distraction. Then, I can glide down from the ceiling and get them ready to go."

"No," Sophie said, emphatically. "If we create a distraction, it'll tip whoever's behind this off, and that room will be the first place they look."

"You have a better idea?" Hardison asked.

"As a matter of fact, I might." She shot Nate a look that imparted whole volumes of knowledge between them. He didn't answer her out loud, but he nodded. She looked at Parker.

"You'll need your strongest rig." Parker grinned like a little kid at Christmas.

(0o0)

Night had fallen. Most of the regular medical staff had gone home. This wasn't a good time to attempt an escape, as there would be fewer personnel and possibly fewer patients overall as well, which might lead to a greater possibility of getting caught. However, it was a good time for unknown people to scope out unseen areas of a certain medical facility. Parker crawled through air ducts via several floors, wearing her jacket with her lock picking tools and her torch, and carrying one of her rigs over her shoulder. She made a mental map of the places she went, landmarks to look for, and any obstacles they might have to deal with.

Sophie scoped out the distance from the door of the hospital to the van, and planned how close they could get without being seen. She timed out the different scenarios in her head; tried to determine how they might all play out. They would have to move quickly and efficiently, but they just might make it.

Hardison sat in the van with Nate, watching the video feed that Nate's doctor persona had managed to place in Eliot's sister's room before he was forced to leave. The older man, Eliot's father, stood up and tried to stretch stiff muscles, but stayed mostly hunched over. His exhaustion was evident in his carriage and his countenance.

Nate started pacing as much as the back of Lucille would let him. Tired of watching a room where nothing was happening, Hardison started making his every hour sweep of the hospital's security cameras. Nate insisted on this particular measure. Eliot hadn't been sure who was behind all of this, and if whoever it was was watching, they would've known that Eliot helped Nate escape the hospital. The team had also learned from experience that surprises were generally bad. Hardison wondered what Nate was looking for. By Eliot's admission, it was people from his life before the team who were behind this, and he wondered if they would know the threat when they saw it, or if they would even see it.

"Nate, what are you looking for on these security camera sweeps?"

"Not what—who. We're looking for anybody we know, who wouldn't have a reason to be here."

"Why?"

"Someone knows we're here. Someone burned my identity to the police and the hospital. If they come anywhere near this hospital before we try again, I want to know it."

"Fair enough."

Hardison switched back and forth between his two assignments for another hour or so. He had kicked back, feet on the metal desk in the back of Lucille, with a mostly empty orange soda bottle next to them. What he saw next made him glad the top was on the orange soda, as he put his feet down and leaned forward so fast he knocked the bottle off and sent it rolling across the floor.

"Nate, I think we have a problem," he said, only to feel a hand on his shoulder that let him know that the mastermind was already standing behind him. Together they watched as Quinn disappeared around the side of the building. Hurriedly, Hardison hacked the new camera feed, and a picture came into grainy focus.

" _Sterling!"_ They said in unison. The hitter was standing with his back to the camera, talking to the Interpol agent.

"So, what now, Nate?" Hardison asked, before he turned to see an empty van, back door swinging.


	7. Chapter 7

Hardison left the van in time to see their mastermind charging toward the corner where Quinn was talking to Sterling. Hardison rushed after him in an attempt, futile though it might be, to stop the train wreck he envisioned. In the end, he needn't have worried.

Hardison walked right up next to Nate, who seemed to be frozen where he stood like an ice sculpture, watching the scene unfold before him. It all happened so fast, he wasn't even sure of what he had seen. One minute, Sterling and Quinn seemed to be talking to one another, and the next minute, Sterling tipped forward until he was sprawled on the ground, unconscious. Half a second later, Quinn stiffened and fell backwards.

Nate stood staring for just another moment, then said, "Get them inside."

(0o0)

He became conscious of sound before he was awake enough to even see anything except shadows. It was a metallic whooshing sound, like metal scraping metal. Gradually the shadows grew lighter, with dark, blurry shapes in between the light patches. The blurriness was disorienting. Slowly, ever so slowly, the shapes coalesced into familiar objects, and he saw that he was in a room he had never seen before. He looked around, half expecting to see Nate sitting there waiting for him to wake up. The room appeared, at first glance, to be empty, but still the scraping sound continued.

As he woke more fully, he found himself so tightly bound that it was impossible for him to move more than an inch in any direction. When that realization hit, he fought to squelch the panic that threatened to overwhelm him. He heard a muted thump somewhere next to him, and turned his head to see. He couldn't turn it far enough to see anything, as it turned out, but the movement made him dizzy, so he tilted his head back and closed his eyes.

He opened them a moment later to see Eliot Spencer, with a knife in one hand and a sharpening stone in the other, standing inches from his face, staring at him. He swallowed hard, stifling the surprised yelp that threatened to escape from the back of his throat.

"Sterling," Eliot growled.

"Spencer," Sterling said, and fairly spat the word. "Where's your boss?" Eliot detected the smallest of tremors in Sterling's voice, and decided it was best to keep the man off balance for now.

"I'm the boss on this job, Sterling. Might be best to concern yourself with me for the moment.

"What do you want, Spencer?"

"You and I are going to talk. If you answer my questions truthfully and satisfactorily, I might let you go. If not, I'll show you how I earned part of my reputation."

"I'm not afraid of you."

Eliot didn't respond, and that worried Sterling more than if he had. Men who talked tough were rarely a threat. Men who didn't have to talk tough, on the other hand…For all of Sterling's effort to act completely disinterested in what Eliot was doing, he was smart enough to know that Eliot didn't make idle threats and that the man next to him could go from mostly benign to deadly in a matter of seconds. His eyes widened almost imperceptibly as he saw the lethal looking knife that Eliot was sharpening. No one else would have noticed, but then no one else had Eliot Spencer's reputation.

Eliot let out a mirthless bark of a laugh and growled, "If I wanted to kill you, you would already be dead. No. I think you might prove useful for another purpose, if you can behave yourself while all of this is going down. If you betray me or my team, I won't be nearly as forgiving as Nate. I will kill you. Slowly."

He glared at Sterling, and Sterling glared back. Finally, Eliot spoke again. "First, I'd like to know what business you have with Quinn."

Sterling cast wildly around for what to say. "I wanted to hire Mr. Quinn for another job, and received word he was on a job here. I had no idea he was working for you."

"So you weren't keeping tabs on us?"

Sterling shook his head, but he wasn't quite meeting Eliot's eyes. Eliot growled his scariest growl and said, "You'd better not be lying to me, Sterling."

Forcing a bravado into his voice that he didn't actually feel, Sterling said, "Can I go now?"

"Oh, I don't think so. I think we'll keep you right here where we can keep an eye on you—at least until I speak to Quinn to verify your story—and maybe until my mission is complete."

"Kidnapping of an Interpol agent? Is that really the way you want to play this? A little amateur for Nate Ford's team, don't you think?"

"Hey," Eliot said, with a trace of indignance. "There's no kidnapping here. The mission I'm on is a dangerous one, and it involves people you haven't heard of and wouldn't care to meet. I'm just trying to keep you safe until it's over. If you decide to call it kidnapping after that, we'll deal with that when the time comes."

(0o0)

Nate sat perfectly still, staring at the unconscious man until he started to stir. His instincts certainly weren't as good as Eliot's. Moments later, Quinn sat up and looked around, trying to figure out where he was and what had happened. Nate looked at someone off to the side and said, "Chair."

Hands seized him under his arms on either side, and guided him into a chair. He tried to stop them, and that's when he realized his hands were tied, far past the point of getting them free. Even tied, they had to assume he was dangerous, just as Eliot was, so Nate was careful in his approach.

A string of invectives flew out of Quinn's mouth, and Nate simply said, "Come on. You can do better than that, Mister Quinn."

"Free me, and I'll show you exactly what I can do."

"We mean you no harm—we just have a few questions. Answer them for me, and we'll let you get back to work."

"And if I don't."

"Answer them for him, or you'll answer them for me." Quinn's head shot around to the source of the noise, and saw Eliot standing in the doorway. Nate looked a bit alarmed, and spoke quietly, as soon as Eliot was in earshot.

"You shouldn't leave Sterling alone. Not if you plan to keep him here."

Eliot looked at Nate sideways and said, "I didn't. Parker's with him, and she's got both a fork and her taser ready to go." Nate wasn't sure how he should respond to that, so he didn't respond.

Looking back at Quinn, he said, "I want to know what Sterling's business is with you, and I want to know now."

 _Oh, he had business with Sterling, all right. The damned fool. He'd told the man not to contact him before this job was finished._ He was a good mind to tell the team what was going on, and ask for their help, but he couldn't take the risk. Trying to look as normal as possible, he said, "We don't have business together. He approached me about a job he wants me to do when I am done here. I told him he wasn't very smart to approach me while I was on another job, especially the kind of job we are on here. That's why I'll probably say no to the job he has for me when we finish."

Eliot looked hard at Quinn, and Quinn's mouth suddenly went dry. He felt as though Eliot could see through to all of his secrets. He tried to speak and started to cough.

"Why is it that you were so hard to find when I tried to hire you for that job with the team, but Sterling found out fairly easily that you were here? You're a hard man to find, normally, and we aren't that easy to find either."

"Want to try again?" Nate asked.

"That's easy to answer," Quinn said, glaring at Nate, who glared back. "Sterling is a past client. He had my number, and gave me a call. I told him I was on a job here, and that I would contact him when I finished. Apparently, he didn't want to wait."

Nate made eye contact with Eliot, indicating he wanted to talk to him in private. Eliot growled at Quinn and said, "I'm stepping out for a minute to talk to Nate. We'll continue this discussion when I get back. If you're not here…well, you know my reputation, but you don't know how long my reach is."

Quinn didn't move, nor did he look at either of the men. Eliot knew the man had heard him, though. With a final look back, he stepped out into the hallway. Closing the door behind him, he looked his mastermind in the eye.

"What do you think?" Nate asked.

"I think he is on shaky ground. I can't say anything he has told us is false,"

"But?"

"But I feel like he knows more than he is telling."

"So what do we do?"

"We need proof," Eliot said, considering. "We give him enough rope to hang himself."


	8. Chapter 8

Nate stepped back inside the room, and Eliot followed him. Moving to stand directly in front of Quinn, Nate spoke.

"I have one more question for you, Quinn."

Quinn said nothing, but he looked at the mastermind expectantly.

"Someone called my team to put us on to the fact that Eliot had been in an accident and they told us he needed help. Was it you?"

"No."

Nate looked somewhere over the hired hitters shoulder and nodded. "Hardison, if you please."

Hardison came over to the small table next to them, just out of reach of Quinn, opened his computer, and started typing. Talking to himself, under his breath, the hacker said, "isolating voice print…removing layers…normalizing sound…removing Autotune."

He touched a button and a very different voice issued from the computer's speaker. It was not, however, the voice of Quinn. After a moment, Hardison shook his head and said, "He's clean. It's not him."

Nate was staring at the computer, head turned sideways, considering. Quinn spoke up. "See, it's not my voice. Why don't you ask your British buddy? He's the one who showed up unannounced and made contact with me."

"We'll do that. Thank you for your cooperation, Quinn." Eliot released Quinn from his bindings and held his hand out to shake. "No hard feelings. I can't afford not to be careful, under the circumstances."

Quinn nodded once and the two men shook hands. Eliot watched as Quinn moved back outside.

(0o0)

Moments later, there was a loud thump at the door of the room Eliot and Nate and Hardison were in, and then a very loud silence. Every one of his senses on the alert, Eliot moved over to the door and flung it open. Parker was lying in a heap on the floor in front of the door. Ben was standing in the hallway behind her, looking mildly shocked, and Sophie was talking quietly to him. Eliot motioned to Ben, who was on the other side of her, to help him, and together, they carried her inside. As soon as the doorway was clear, Nate went tearing off down the hall to check on Sterling, Hardison right behind him. The mastermind skidded to a stop in front of the door, and Hardison almost ran into him. Placing a finger to his lips, Nate spoke in a low voice.

"Be careful. In all likelihood, Sterling has Parker's taser."

Hardison nodded, and Nate flung open the door. The room was empty.

(0o0)

By the time Hardison and Nate cleared their and made it back to the room where the rest of the team waited for them, Parker was sitting up.

"How is she?" Nate asked quietly, as their hitter pulled away to do something, leaving her with Sophie.

"She was tased, and she's still a little shaky, but I think she'll be okay. I can't promise the same for Sterling when I find him."

Nate looked at Parker and then back at Eliot. "What does this mean for our mission?" he asked.

"You're the mastermind. You tell me."

"I don't see how we can continue now, with Sterling in the wind, and therefore, outside of our control. I think we need to wait a week, let things die down."

"Will we be any better prepared in a week? Sterling will. I don't know what he's planning, but he'll have had a week longer to plan. Besides that, we don't know if my sister has a week. Your presence there may have spooked them, and they may be planning to move her. We need to do this now, if we are going to do it at all."

"All right. Let's go steal a family. Sophie, you're up."

(0o0)

Sophie was not at all happy about having to crawl through the air ducts behind Parker, and Parker was not happy about the amount of noise the other woman was making. Finally, she stopped moving and turned around with a finger to her lips.

"Shh. If you keep making so much noise, they'll hear us," she half hissed, half whispered. "Then the plan won't work."

Sophie wanted to say that she wasn't doing it on purpose. It wasn't like she did this every day, like Parker did. But she understood the importance of being quiet, so she tried to be more careful. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, they arrived at their destination. Parker sat statue still for the longest, just watching whatever was going on in the room below. Sophie was just getting ready to ask what was going on when she very carefully lifted out the return vent and lowered herself slowly through the hole. She dropped soundlessly to the ground and handed Eliot's father a pair of scrubs, a surgical mask, and a cap to cover his hair.

"Put those on."

Eliot's father scurried off to the room's bathroom to change. Parker then turned to the bed and did a quick assessment of Eliot's sister, just as he had taught her. She was fairly stable for the condition she was in.

"Can you walk?" She asked.

She nodded. "I think so." But when she pushed the covers back and tried to stand, her legs buckled underneath her. Parker tried to give her a few minutes, knowing she had spent most of her time in bed over the past week or so. Moments later, it became obvious to both of them that she couldn't walk.

"On to plan B, then," Parker said. With that, she untied the belt around her waist, which Sophie just now noticed was a climbing rope, and fashioned a harness out of it. She helped Eliot's sister into it, and then put her back to bed, covered in heavy blankets.

Parker pushed the chair Eliot's father had been using over to the air ducts just in time for Sophie to step into it as she lowered herself down to the ground. Shaking out her hair, she put on a wig and assumed her psychiatrist persona.

Eliot's father came out of the restroom at that moment. Sophie looked at both of them.

"Wait for my signal," she said.

"How will we know it's you?" Parker asked.

"You'll know," she said, checking to make sure the hallway was clear before darting out into it and disappearing.

Parker looked at Eliot's father. "When I tell you to go, you are going to push your daughter's hospital bed down the hallway to the cargo elevator. No matter what, don't stop for anything. We'll take care of any potential problems. It opens to the street. Once you are inside the elevator, we'll take care of your daughter. Just walk out of the elevator as though it is any other day, climb into the car waiting there, and my people will explain everything."

"Who are you people?"

"We'd be the cavalry." She didn't know what made her say it, it just slipped out. "We're friends." Eliot's dad's whole expression changed at her words.

"That's something my s- no, it can't be."

Just then, an alarm sounded in a room down the hall and a voice came over the intercom. "Code Blue to Room 112. Code Blue 112."

Parker counted down in her head. She heard the running footsteps and the rolling equipment. When the hallway was relatively quiet, she touched his shoulder and said, "Go."

"But—"

"Go now!" She said, fairly pushing him out the door. She watched to be sure he knew where the elevators were, then she climbed back into the air duct, placed the return back in place and crawled away to the location of the next part of the plan.


End file.
